There are families of printed circuit boards that are classified according to board formation techniques or board selection standards. Printed circuit board families differ from one another in realizable wiring density. Various apparatuses and methods for selecting an optimum printed circuit board from among those families of printed circuit boards are known.
For example, in Japanese Patent Application No. H11-194611 entitled “DESIGN APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD”, filed by the inventors of the present invention, and assigned to International Business Machines Corporation, the ratio between the total wiring length that can be wired on a board and the total wiring length that should be wired on a board is derived and, based on this ratio, an optimum board is selected.
The foregoing application selects an optimum board based on information about components to be mounted or position information about components to be mounted on a printed circuit board. Utilizing the component position information, the total wiring length that should be wired on the board is derived to select a printed circuit board to be used. The foregoing application describes an effective selection apparatus and method when mounting positions of components on a printed circuit board have already been determined. However, for determining the mounting positions of components on a printed circuit board, it is necessary to carry out a circuit design.
A technique for selecting a printed circuit board to be used before performing a circuit design is known. In such a known technique, a printed circuit board is selected based on the ratio between the total number of pins of components to be used in a circuit and an area of the printed circuit board, or based on the ratio between the total area of components to be mounted and an area of the printed circuit board. However, in the known technique, only an rough approximation can be obtained.
Accordingly there is a need in the art for an apparatus and method for more accurately selecting a printed circuit board for assembly without performing a circuit design.